Method of making vaned tires



Feb. 14, 1950 R. w. HURSH 2,497,774

METHOD OF MAKING VANED TIRES Original Filed Dec. 1, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l especially useful in providing prerotation of the to show the construction.

Patented Feb. 14, 1950 PATENT OFFICE 2,497,774 7 msrnonor MAKING VANED 'rmss Robert W. Hursh, Erlton, N. J., assignor toThe B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Original application December 31,1943, Serial No.

516,449, now Patent No.

2,457,899, dated J anuary 4, 1949. Divided and this applicationJuly 22, 1948, Serial No. 40,114

This invention relates to varied tires and is wheels of aircraft to avoid excessive tire wear in landing and to reducethe shock of the landing. This is a division of my application Serial No. 516,449, filed Dec. 31, 1943, now Patent No. 2,457,899, January 4, 1949, entitled Vaned tire.

Objects of this invention are to provide an improved tire utilizing the principle of hingedro .vanes for prerotation, and especially to provide for improved action of the vanes and to provide an improved construction.

Other objects are to provide more rapid acceleration of rotation of the wheel, to provide '15. improved reinforcement of the vanes, to provide security of attachment of the vanes, to provide for more effective hinging of the blades about a curved tire surface, and to provide facility of manufacture.

These and other objects will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a, tire casing con-. structed in accordance with and embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof taken on line- 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross section thereof, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing the relaxed or closed position of one of the vanes in full lines and the stressed or open position of the vane in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the tire showing one of the vanes in its stressed or open position.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the side of the tire at a stage in the manufacture thereof, showing a vane applied thereto, parts being broken away Fig. 6 is a section thereof, taken on line B6 of Fi 5.

rubber-like material providing a-ribbedtread 65.

4 Claims. (Ci.

of the tire.

portion [2 and. side wall portions I3, M. The re- "inforcing cords, indicated at H in Fig. 3, may be anchored in the usual manner about annular bead cores l5, I6 at the bead portions I1, I8 of the tire which are adapted to be seated on the of the tire.

For effecting rotation of the tire about its axis during night of the aircraft, a plurality of flexible vanes 20 are provided preferably on each side While good results have been obtained with nine vanes as shown, fewer or more vanes than this may be used, if desired. Each fvane when relaxed is seated in a pocket 2| provided in the sidewall of the tire and is hinged along one margin 22 of the vane to the body of tire tire, being free along its other margins 23, 24, 25.

The free margins 23, 24 and 25 are tapered from the inner face of the vane to a thin edge at the outer face, and the margins of the pocket 2| adjacent thereto are sloped correspondingly to provide a fit about the vane which in its relaxed position is seated in the pocket with its outerface flush with the side wall of the tire and preferably with a thin space between the vane and the wall of the pocket at all points for entrance of air.

" For providing flexibility and strength of the vane 20 and to facilitate its hinging about its margin 22, which in the tire section is curved, while permitting distortion thereof to permit bending action and to return elastically the stressed vanes to their pockets, such vane is reinforced by one or more layers of weftless parallel cords, such as the layers 30, 3|, as shown in Fig. 5, in which the cords are preferably disposed approximately perpendicular to the hinge margins 22 of the vane and are separated by a web of elastic rubber or other rubber-like material from each other permitting them to spread in the layers are preferably laid parallel to each other for providing the greatest fan-wise elasticity, a substantial elasticity with greater reinforcement may be obtained by arrangement of the cords of one layer parallel to each other and at a slight angle with respect to the cords of another layer. Although it is preferred to ar- 7 range the cord layers with their cords perpendicular to the hinge line, if desired in some cases the cords may be disposed at other angles to the hinge line. It will usually be advantageous howeverto arrange the cords to cross the hinge line,

The inner face 32 and the outer face 33 of each vane are of resilient rubber or other rubber-like material and these layers are united to each other between the cords and about the free margins of the vane by molding .to completely enclose and protect the reinforcing cords from entrance of moisture. The rubber-like material of the side walls I 3 and I' l extends over the exposed floors of the pockets to protect the cord structure of the tire and is merged with the coverings 32, 33 to completely seal out the moisture and provide a smooth covering inte-' free corners of the vane are most advanced with respect .to the direction of rotation of the tire. ,Among the advantages of this oblique disposition I of the hinged margins of the vanes as shown in Fig. 1, this disposition has the advantage that centrifugal force acts on the vanes to assist in holding it open, this being of value especially at; the higher tire speeds owing to reduction of relative speed of the air with respect to the vanes.

The vanes rise from the side wall of the tire as the air passes the lower quadrants of the tire in ,a direction from right to left of Fig. 1 due to movement .of the tire bodily from left to right through the air. With this arrangement, vanes such as A and others in the upper portion of the tire lie flat against the side wall l3, whereas vanessuch as B and others in the lower portion ,of the tire are raised from the side wall into ,the air flow where they act to cause clockwise 'rotationof the tire about its axis (Fig. l) With this -.construction .the greatest turning moment is exerted in the trailing lower quadrant occupied by vanessuch as B and C, Fig. l. Observations have indicated that the trailing lower quadrant of the wheel :is subject to the most advantageous action of the air flow for the development of maximumturning torque, apparently as a result .at least to some extent of the nature of the air flow over the tire shape. In this trailing lower quad-rant the vanes, with their inclination as shown in Fig. l, reach positions more nearly perpendicular to the direction of the air flow for most effective action.

If desired as an alternative construction, an

arrangement .of the vanes at angles such that their radially outermost free corners are advanced with respect to their innermost free cor- '-ners, or with their hinge lines inclined oppositely with respect to radii of the tire from that shown in Fig. 1, will provide the greatest turning moment in the leading lower quadrant.

The arrangement of the vanes oblique to radii of the tire tends to decrease resistance to hinging of the vanes .due to convexity of the side walls of the the which supports them, as the diagonal positioning of the hinge line makes that line more nearly approach a straight line and therefore reduces the amount .of distortion of the .vanes fan-wise during their hing-ing movements. The arrangement also makes it possible for lifting of the vanes into the .air stream to start at one free corner and occur progressively toward free margins of each vane facilitates entry of the air for prompt lifting.

In manufacturing the tire of the invention the procedure and equipment hereinbelow described promote convenience and the production of a uniformly high quality product. The materials comprising the reinforcing plies of cord of the tire body, the bead cores, and the tread and side walls of rubber or other rubber-like material are assembled about a building form in the usual manner of building a tire according to the fiat band or drum-building method or other suitable method. The tire may then be formed or expanded by means of a vacuum forming box or .other forming means to approximate tire shape and an expansible curing bag mounted therein.

After forming, but before vulcanization, the side walls are cleaned from foreign matter by use of solvents and brushing. A template 40,

illustrated in Figs. 7 to '9, is then applied to a side wall of the tire.

This template is a disc of sheet metal having three radially adjustable locating jaws 4|, 4'2, 43 mounted on one face thereof and positioned to extend radially of the disc .at equally spaced angles from its center.

The jaws may be adjusted radially of the disc and locked thereto by screws 44 so as to engage within the bead portion of the tire to locate the template centrally thereof. The template is provided about its periphery with arms 45 in anumber corresponding to the number of vanes desired, which arms extend angularly in the plane of the disc with respect to radii thereof, the angle corresponding to the desired angle of the vanes. Each arm has a pair of flanges 46,

4! turned axially of the disc and shaped to rest against the side wall of the tire. The flanges serve to position one side margin and one end margin of the vane.

The vanes 20 are separately constructed by cutting to shape and assembling the two layers 30,3! of parallel rubberized cords with an outer layer 33, an inner layer 32 and an intervening layer 48 of unvulcanized rubber-like material.

For preventing vulcanization .of the vane to the tire except along one margin thereof while the vanes are molded in situ on the tire, a separating material 49 which may be a strip .of holland cloth, parchment paper, metal foil or other suitable adhesion-preventing substance is applied to the inner face of the vane with one margin .of

the material in the case of a strip at the desired hinge line and the other margins extending beyond the margins of the vane. For reinforcing the vane at its hinge line and to secure the separating strip thereto, a strip .50 of unvulcanized gum is folded about the margins of the separating strip at the hinge line.

,t other free orner. The narrow spa e atthew The assembled vane material and separating strip are laid on the cleaned tire side wall against the template with the separating strip between the side Walland that portion of the vane which is not to be adhered, and is stitched in place. A thinnarrow gum strip maybe adhered in overlapping relation about the attached margins of the vane extending slightly over the sidewall to prevent entry of dust. After the vanes have all been positioned on one side of the tire, the tire is turned over and vanes applied to the opposite side in similar manner. As the vanes on opposite sides of the tire are to be inclined in the same .direction of rotation, a similar template of opposite hand is provided for applying the vanes on the opposite side of the tire.

.After the vanes are positioned on the tire, the

tire with the assembled vanes is painted or dusted with soapstone or other material to prevent adhesion to the mold, and the tire is placed in a mold and cured under internal pressure and applied heat. During vulcanization, the vanes are embedded in the side wall and united integrally therewith, and molded to shape in situ to provide a flush outer surface, and the material of the tire side walls becomes depressed to accommodate the vane. The holland cloth or other separating material is also depressed so that its margins adjacent the free margins of the vane are bowed outwardly, thereby forming a smoothly rounded depression margin and tapering the free margins of the vane to sharp thin edges while at the same time providing a slight spacing between the vane and side wall for ready entrance of air and while molding the separated faces of the tire and vane to final form.

After vulcanization, the separating strips are removed from the tire and the tire is ready for use.

While it is preferred to employ separating strips of holland cloth or other sheet material a separating layer may be provided by a coating of lacquer, soapstone, or other separating material applied as a liquid or dust.

Variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as it is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making an annular tire body having vanes on its side walls which comprises building an annular tire body of reinforcing material having a covering of vulcanizable material, assembling layers of reinforcing material and vulcanizable material to provide a vane, applying the assembled vane as a unit to a side wall of the tire body at the desired inclination thereto with a layer of separating material between a portion of the vane and said side wall, enclosing the assembly in a mold, and applying heat and pressure to embed the vane in said side wall while vulcanizing the assembly and uniting the vane integrally with the side wall adjacent the separating layer.

2. The method of making an annular tire body having vanes on its side walls comprising building an annular tire body of textile material having a covering of vulcanizable material, assembling layers of parallel cords and vulcanizable material to provide a vane having all its cords extending in one direction, applying the assembled vane as a unit to a side wall of the tire body at the desired inclination thereto with a layer of separating material between a portion of the vane and the side wall and the cords crossing one margin of the separating material, enclosing the assembly in a mold, and applying heat and pressure to embed the vane flush with said side wall while vulcanizing the assembly and uniting the vane integrally with the side wall adjacent the separating layer.

3. The method of making a tire with hinged vanes of vulcanizable material on its side wall, which comprises molding each vane on the tire in situ to unite it integrally in a resiliently hinged connection while the remainder of the vane is separated from the side wall by a layer of sepating material to provide a free flexible portion of the vane flush with the side-wall of the tire and presenting a molded face thereof complemental to and opposing a molded face of the side Wall.

4. The method of making an annular tire body having vanes on a side wall thereof which comprises building an annular tire body of reinforcing material having a covering of vulcanizable material, separately forming a vane unit of layers of reinforcing material and vulcanizable material, locating the position of the vane on the side wall by a template applied thereto, adhering the vane to the side wall, and vulcanizing the tire and the vane by contact with a heated mold to integrally unite them.

ROBERT W. HURSH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 820,752 Young May 15, 1906 1,287,429 Price Dec. 10, 1918 1,803,004 Carter Apr. 28, 1931 1,833,019 Faucher et a1 Nov. 24, 1931 1,834,427 Schumacher Dec. 1, 1931 1,992,665 I-Iazell Feb. 26, 1935 2,312,159 Gulotta Feb. 23, 1943 2,333,447 Schippel Nov. 2, 1943 

